Newsletter November 2016 Hurst Johnian Club i The Hurst Johnian Club formed 1877 Officers during the Year 2015 - 2016 Officers President: Joe Bell (Star 2000-05), North End House, Little Park Farm, Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex BN6 9UZ 07414 848443 [email protected] Vice President and AROPS Rep Claire Tibbott (Shield 1999-2004), Leat House, 3 Watering Court, Fore Street, Otterton, East Devon, 01395 568332 07715 711157 [email protected] [EX9 7HB Hon Treasurer Nick Paddenburg (Star 1998-2003) [email protected] Hon Secretary Sebastian Probert-Broster (Red Cross 1999-2004) [email protected] Asst. Hon Sec., Newsletter Ed, Travel Fund John Bettridge (former Staff, Hon. OJ) 01273 834312 (home) [email protected] Common Room Rep Rob Kift (Staff) 01273 833636 (school) [email protected] Committee Additional Committee Members Past President Gordon Roff (Martlet 1975-80) 07885-225091 [email protected] Alan Buttifant (Fleur 1968-73) 01342 842472 [email protected] Robert Ebdon (Martlet 1978-83) 07968 421305 [email protected] (work) Tom Moulton (Fleur de Lys 1981-86) 07790 538971 [email protected] Paul Ruddlesdin (Martlet 1962-67) [email protected] Tania Fielden (Staff) [email protected] Grace Couchman (Pelican 2006-11) [email protected] Ian Buckeridge (Chevron 1975-80) [email protected] Alice Chan (Martlet 1999-2004) Charlotte Lloyd (Martlet 1998-2003) Club Administrator Michelle Ashbridge 01273 833636 [email protected] Organisations Cricket: T Moulton Golf: R Holgate Choir: R Ebdon Hockey: P Thomas Tennis: R D G Vernon Law Society: B E Glazier Land Society: D Chapman Girls’ Sport: G Couchman (Hockey) E Franks (Netball) November 2016 ii HurstHurst JohnianJohnian ClubClub Established 1877 INDEX NovemberNovember 20162016 President’s Letter 2 Headmaster’s Letter 3 Girls’ Sport at Hurst 5 News and Views 8 EDITORIAL Tim Firth—Reflections 16 Careers 18 Some years ago I ventured north to that remarkably beautiful city, Stockholm. While roaming around I visited the cathedral and found Travel Fund 22 some telling words in the guide book I bought, which in my view could Archive 34 equally apply to Hurst. Social Events 43 Sport 52 “People have streamed through our gates for centuries now. They Obituaries 69 have left their mark on the Cathedral, while taking their own impressions back home with them. Your visit here is the most recent in this endless chain. Each person who enters here, like each picture, each detail of the interior, each word spoken or sung, is part of a living context which our services and work preserve and usher into the future. It is this connection between the past and present to which this amazing building testifies.” School Hurstpierpoint College As each year passes we see this past and present at Hurst with its College Lane buildings, current community of pupils and staff and wider community Hurstpierpoint of former pupils, former staff and friends. It is a wide network of West Sussex BN6 9JS diverse interests but the common factor that unites all is Hurst itself. Telephone: 01273 833636 Between us we know and value the contribution so many have made Fax: 01273 835257 and it is clear that without them neither our present nor our future Website: www.hppc.co.uk would be so rich in achievement and promise. Sadly Hurst has lost too OJ Club many of its former number this year. Some were of long standing and Email: [email protected] great experience, others just far too young, but all have endowed the Website: www.theojclub.com community that is Hurst with something of themselves, which would be hard to quantify. Administrator: Michelle Ashbridge: [email protected] Best wishes, John Bettridge 1 Letter from the President Dear OJs, It was enormously encouraging to see so many of you on the 21st of October at Lords. Certainly, 140 people attending the dinner was a substantial jump from the 90 in Brighton two years prior. Thank you for attending, and hopefully we’ll tempt even more next time around. Alongside these events, there’s a lot of work in the wings you’d easily miss. Cricket week, the Golfers’ busy schedule and the Newsletter all require meticulous organisation. Many evenings and weekends are put aside to fight through administration and I’d like to praise the commitment of Tom Moulton, Ed Welch, Rick Holgate and Roger Goodacre and John Bettridge amongst others, who make these possible each year. Over the last two years the Committee, in conjunction with the school, has made a substantial commitment to digitising the school archives. This will preserve an enormous quantity of school and OJ history that may otherwise rot in the eaves above Star House. This project has been the work of Mary Lou, the school archivist, and it’s been a multi-year effort. It’s hard to put a value on this work and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the final results. On behalf of the Committee, I extend our huge thanks to her. In addition to this, the Committee have been doing a lot of work this year to build a stronger foundation for the Club. The proposal that the Headmaster, the Committee and myself are working on will secure the OJs’ funding for today’s outgoings, and also sufficient long term commitments to build towards more expansive projects. The plans we have in place will mean that the Club will be funded directly from a new, independent foundation with the express intention of supporting all current and future alumni. This important distinction will finally mean everyone to leave the school will be invited to be an OJ. I think we can all agree that the more broadly we build the network of the club, the better the outcome for everyone involved. I think the ambition of this Club should extend beyond the 140 OJs I met in October, to more substantial projects and a bigger footprint. Hopefully we are now taking steps to make this a reality. The Committee and I will continue to update you on our progress at the AGM in December. Thank you again to the Committee for their help this year, in particular Seb Broster (Secretary) and Nick Paddenburg (Treasurer) for keeping the wheels turning. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year, Joe Bell OHJ Club President 2 Headmaster’s Letter With the public examination results now in, we can properly review the year gone by. In short, it has been a vintage one and, overall, extremely successful for the College, its pupils and staff. Inevitably, one must begin with matters academic. This is the fourth year in succession that the College has improved its results at both A Level, International Baccalaureate and GSCE. Such things are not the be all and end all but we have broken the 80% barrier for grades at A*-B in ‘A’ Levels and Higher level grades 5-7 in the International Baccalaureate. Critically, this has meant that 90% or so of our Upper Sixth Form leavers have achieved their places at their first choice University including 9 Oxbridge candidates. This is a tremendous achievement for any school and, as Head, it has been a real pleasure to see this really fine body of young men and women moving onto the next stage successfully and, critically, onto the right pathway for them. At GCSE, we edge ever closer to the 70% A*/A grade category (currently standing at 68.3% A*/A) with 90 of last year’s cohort achieving 7 or more A*/A grades. If you are competitive about these things, and have a mind to do so, you could compare us to other local schools rather favourably. As regular readers will know, I am not now and never have been a fan of crude league tables however favourably we might appear in them. What is key are the individual stories which lie behind the grades and there have been so many great stories this year. Hurst Life is, of course, about more than just the purely academic and we have seen some real successes across the extra-curricular landscape. We have a host of sporting triumphs to celebrate and silverware to polish. Amongst the most memorable moments are 3 County cups for Rugby in a day, 3 SISNA trophies for Netball, a rather good match against Brighton College at Hove cricket ground to win the Sussex 20/20 Trophy, great Hockey, and, perhaps the story of the year, Girls’ Cricket where our teams seem to be sweeping the board. Away from the core sports, we won the Sussex Cups for Senior Girls, Senior Boys and Junior Girls in Swimming and our Skiing team seems to be amongst the strongest amongst Independent Schools. The Girls Athletics squad won the Sussex track and field cup. However, the sport at Hurst is never about just the elite and I continue to be cheered by the sight of some mighty B, C and D teams winning through against the odds. As for activities, the Duke of Edinburgh machine continues to motor on. All pupils in the Middle School embark on their Silver Award and quite a few go onto Gold in due course. All great character building stuff and seeing the entirety of Remove out on their Silver practice walk towards the end of last term was a real joy. Blisters, bruises, issues with map reading but great good humour all round. Drama has given us some real treats. The two musicals of the year Oklahoma (Shell and Remove Musical) and Cabaret (Senior Musical) were utterly superb.